BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          AB 203 (Brownley)
          
          Hearing Date: 08/25/2011        Amended: 08/15/2011
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-3
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: AB 203 specifies and expands requirements in 
          several areas of Parent Empowerment Act (PEA) provisions, 
          including content and signature requirements for petitions, 
          petition review procedures, and meeting requirements. This bill 
          would require the Department of Education (CDE), within 90 days 
          after the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and State 
          Board of Education (SBE) have received 75 PEA petitions, to 
          submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees 
          of the Legislature and the Governor, as specified.
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14       Fund
           
          Signature verification           Potentially significant 
          reimbursable mandate       General
                                                                      
          CDE administration                 Significant one-time costs; 
          likely >$50              General
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.

          Existing law  (SB 4x5, Romero, Fifth Extraordinary Session, 
          Chapter 3, Statutes of 2010), established the PEA, which (among 
          other provisions) authorizes a parent of a pupil enrolled in a 
          school that is  not  identified as a "persistently 
          lowest-achieving school," as determined under the federal Race 
          to The Top program, but is subject to corrective action pursuant 
          to the federal No Child Left Behind Act and has an Academic 
          Performance Index score of less than 800, to submit an 
          application requesting a school district governing board to 
          implement specified education reform models. This is commonly 
          referred to as the "Parent Trigger" for school reform. 









          AB 203 (Brownley)
          Page 1


          Since its enactment, parents, LEA governing boards, the CDE, and 
          the SBE have struggled to implement the Parent Trigger due a 
          lack of statutory clarity. In September 2010, the SBE began 
          developing emergency regulations to address five key issues: (a) 
          how the Parent Trigger interacts with the current charter school 
          petition process; (b) signature requirements and verification 
          process; (c) identification of eligible schools and notification 
          of stakeholders; (d) notification timelines; and (e) allegations 
          of threats and harassment. The SBE has recently sent draft 
          permanent regulations out for public comment. Staff notes that 
          the CDE was never appropriated funding to implement the PEA, or 
          develop regulations. California did not receive Race to the Top 
          funding, and the CDE has been absorbing all workload required to 
          develop the regulations and implement other provisions of SB 
          4x5.

          This bill seeks to clarify the Parent Trigger process and 
          requirements, in order to implement it in a way that avoids 
          litigation and creates a common understanding of the 
          requirements. However, to the extent that this bill requires 
          district governing boards that receive these petitions to 
          undertake a new activity or duty beyond what is explicitly 
          required by the existing PEA, it will create a reimbursable 
          state mandate on school districts.

          The provisions of this bill are similar to the SBE's draft 
          regulations that are currently out for public comment. To the 
          extent that the bill's provisions are consistent with proposed 
          regulations, and if those draft regulations are adopted, the 
          mandate would likely be caused by the regulations, as 
          reimbursement of the costs associated with mandated activities 
          would be required as a result of the regulations even in the 
          absence of the bill. If the regulations are not adopted, or are 
          less extensive than this bill, the bill uniquely creates a new 
          mandate and its related costs.

          The most significant difference between this bill and the 
          currently proposed SBE regulations is that this bill requires 
          signature verification for Parent Trigger petitions. The 
          proposed draft regulations authorize, but do not require, an LEA 
          that receives a petition to verify the petition signatures (that 
          they are authentic, that the child of the signer is enrolled in 
          the school or a feeder school, etc.). The regulations specify 
          how the signatures must be verified, if the LEA chooses to 








          AB 203 (Brownley)
          Page 2


          verify them as a determination of the petition's validity. This 
          bill specifically requires that the LEA verify the signatures, 
          and do so consistent with the requirements outlined in the bill. 
          It is in the best interest of the LEA to verify the petition 
          signatures, and most are likely to do so even in the absence of 
          a statutory requirement.  However, by requiring verification, 
          this bill creates a reimbursable state mandate; the state would 
          have to reimburse LEAs for activities and costs necessary to 
          verify that the signatures meet the requirements. 

          This bill requires the CDE to provide sample petitions on its 
          website, translated into multiple languages. The department has 
          indicated that it would have to contract for these translations; 
          the CDE does not have existing staff qualified to complete them.
          This bill, unlike the proposed regulations, also requires the 
          CDE to provide and update on its website a list of schools that 
          have implemented a PEA intervention, as well as other specified 
          information. These requirements are likely to result in 
          significant costs to the CDE. The CDE is also required to report 
          additional specified information to the Legislature, Governor, 
          and the SBE when it receives 75 PEA petitions. This workload 
          would be minor and consistent with CDE's related activities.